The Spring Exhibition is an open submission exhibition that has long been one of the highlights of the annual programme at Charlottenborg. In 2012 the show features 69 participants from around the world, including many from Denmark and Northern Europe, as well as others from countries such as South Africa and the USA. The exhibited works cover a wide variety of genres associated with art and design, and this year’s exhibition includes a notable group of works that explores the body, performance and sexuality. One such work, entitled The Humping Pact, by Dmitry Paranyushkin (RU) & Diego Agullo (ES) included a special performance with naked men, staged on the opening night of the exhibition.

The jury for the 2012 exhibition also notes that a number of pieces in the show have a preoccupation with ethnicity and cultural history, while another tendency is the strong strand of sculptural work. Exemplifying both tendencies, Gilles T. Lacombe (FR) is showing a giant model of an elephant tusk that is hung like a phallus from the ceiling of Charlottenborg – a work created from the ivory of more than 4000 discarded piano keys. This monument also evokes a preoccupation with animism and history, seen in other works such as Sebastian Neubauer’s (DE) ‘do it yourself’ parody of the famous shark by Damien Hirst. The exhibition also features a large volume of video, with many works focusing on the intimate, fragile or even lonely aspects of contemporary life.

Participating artistsFor the Spring Exhibition 2012 there were 715 applicants. 69 artists have been selected, including 66 first-time participants and a total of 92 works. The youngest artist was born in 1990 and the oldest in 1949. 31 artists come from Denmark, 15 from the rest of the Nordic region, 18 from other European countries, and 6 from other countries around the world. The participating artists are as follows: